Life in Maitama after Unoma Akpabio’s invasion

KENNETH JUDE reports that night life has not been the same again in Maitama axis of Uyo metropolis ever since the Governor’s wife and First Lady, Unoma Godswill Akpabio invaded the place on a rescue mission of returning sexual sanity to that community.

In the morning hours through the afternoon period, the atmosphere and ambience is genial and convivial. Nothing suggests to a casual observer of the activities that envelope the place at night. It is like every other location in the State where normal movement of both human and vehicular traffic holds sway.

During the day time, most of the shopping outlets remain under lock and owners only open for business mostly at night where activities and customers stream in to the expansive and breezy area in torrents.

While some folks may shudder over the idea and wisdom to close their shops during the day time and open at night, traders in this area often laugh to the banks at the end of each day’s outing in the field of business, in spite of the time they open. It is a place for relaxation and ‘chilling out’. It is a place that plays host to the rich, the mighty and the-not-so rich in the society. It also serves as a veritable avenue where the so-called low income earners mingle with the nouveau riche to no end.

Welcome to Maitama, located in Uyo; tucked in Ewet Housing Estate – a Government Reserved Area (GRA) in Akwa Ibom State. Being a calm and serene environment that should ordinarily serve for residential purposes, one expect that Maitama should be devoid of the hustle and bustle that pervade other areas as those close to the market square or the city centre which serves as a meeting point for all class of citizens. Alas, the reverse is the case here as buying and selling is at it apogee in an otherwise residential area. Businesses like supermarkets, foodstuffs sellers, fast food joints, bars, suya sellers et al hold sway in Maitama.

Many have come to see the area as a place they come to calm frayed nerves and relax while catching some fun after a busy day at the office. There’s no dull moment whatsoever in Maitama when it has to do with business, entertainment, or music; men and women of different class mingle and make-up. Infact, Maitama can safely be described as an epicentre of fun and relaxation.

For lovers of ‘night life’, Maitama serves as a platform or arena of convergence where one is guaranteed the ‘best’ life can offer. It’s a fun spot that offers unbridled revelry and what have you. It is also a spot where one is confronted by the good, the bad and the ugly part of life in no small measure.

While there are litanies of fun-lovers who throng Maitama to relax and soothe their palate with the numerous items on display, there are also others who gallivant around the area with the sole intent of picking pockets, defrauding unsuspecting revellers or engaging in one dubious act or the other.

The ugly part of Maitama is the presence of scores of young ladies who have taken to what is generally believed as ‘hustling’. Theirs is a ‘business’ that makes the night life thick here. You find them in skimpy attires, half-dressed gowns, in bikinis, bump shorts and the like. Their intrepid nature could bowel any discerning mind over. They display their ‘vitals’ with gay abandon. After all, in other to ‘out sell’ their fellows, or get the highest patronage, one must present or display her ‘wares’ in the best way possible. 

They are the prostitutes who have made Maitama, to a large extent, the Sodom of Uyo! Or, how best can one describe it? What will strike a first time visitor to the area is the fact that most of these hustlers are teenagers who should either be in high school or helping out at home with domestic chores. There are also the very ‘big’ ones who obviously have seen better days and have bade ‘farewell’ to the bliss that comes within the arms and warmth of a loving and caring husband. Yes, they are the ones with wrinkled faces, flabby skin, chubby and protruding tummies. There are also others who look every inch delectable, with looks that can sweep any man off his feet. They look adorable and inviting. They are voluptuously endowed by nature but rather than uphold their beauty within the bounds of decency and morality, they take great delight in selling their bodies to the highest bidders and at other times with a token depending on their mood or how good or bad the day’s ‘business’ is. They don’t care a hoot about whose ox is good as they go about their illicit business – little wonder the clothes they put on which of course is for no other reason but to get attention of their patronisers who cut across all age bracket as long as such a guy is ready to meet their demands both in cash and in the romp that goes on in the cover of darkness – some all night depending on the pay and others, ‘short time’.

The surprising aspect of their ‘trade’ is that they are not choosy as regards the guy to hang out with; their ultimate aim is the cash they will get from the ‘customer’ regardless of his age or size. For them, ‘money no get size’. It’s also noteworthy that some security agents who are meant to maintain order and discipline around Maitama are no less their patronisers. They are said to move often than not, pretending to arrest the prostitutes only to stop half way and demand for their own share of the ‘largesse’. One could be forgiven to think that men who patronize these ‘girls’ are the unmarried ones. Such is a mistaken thought because according to those who should know, most of the men who crave the ‘services’ of these ‘girls’ are the married ones.

According to those who confided in this reporter, the married men are willing and ready to spend money on these prostitutes. “They lavish stupendously on any of them that catches their fancy’’ said Mr. Kufre who sells roast plantain and chicken in Maitama. But while these crass absurdities went on unchecked for many years in the area, with many not having an inkling whatsoever of the impending ‘disaster’ that lurked around on tip-toe. To fun-seekers and givers, the place was a safe haven where they could engage in their trade without hindrance.

Even though, the Maitama axis often played host to heavy security personnel who patrolled the area at quick intervals to ensure peace and harmony, it did little or nothing to mitigate or stamp out some of the ugly activities that engulfed Maitama. While most of them were stern in carrying out their avowed and constitutional duty, others simply played ball and turned a blind eye to the obscene scenes that held the area by the jugular.

But a pale of gloom and doom descended on Maitama recently when the wife of the State Governor,  Mrs. Ekaette Unoma Akpabio in a commando-like style and depicting a scene from the stable of an action-packed Hollywood movie paid a ‘courtesy’ visit to Maitama with heavy security details in tow. Many revellers were taken unawares by the visit of the First Lady as they wondered what the charismatic and hardworking “Mother Theresa” of our time could be doing in Maitama.

The woman of many parts was not there to join in the frenzy that has become the order of the day in this part of Uyo. She came to put a stop to the illicit act of prostitution that has become the norm rather than the exception in the area. From her looks and the presence of stern looking and hefty but no-nonsense security personnel, it was clear that she was not there to throw banter or have firsthand knowledge of what goes on there. She had already known about Maitama and the kind of activities that takes place there-in. Hence, on sighting the First Lady and the stern looking officers, everyone was soaked with tension, the atmosphere went up in palpable fear as revellers and shop owners were gripped with uncertainty.

In no time, people started running helter-skelter, while others remained unmoved. As fear heightened, the prostitutes who had made Maitama their fiefdom of sorts started dispersing in one and twos. They were the main target of the invasion by Mrs. Unoma Akpabio. With the help of the security men, they were ‘arrested’. After talking with them for some time, the First Lady clamped down on them and their illicit trade. She doled out N50, 000 to each of them, urging them to desist from ‘selling’ their precious bodies in exchange of filthy lucre. They were reportedly deported to their States as most of them were not from the State.

Days after the visit, the hustle and bustle that made Maitama thick was intermittently punctuated by security men who monitor the area and harass those who were engaged in their legitimate business.

It was reported that 9: pm was the official time given to all those doing business in Maitama to close. While the seeming order was complied with when the heat was on, recent visit to the area indicates that normalcy has gradually returned to Maitama with traders and beer parlour operators selling into the wee hours of the morning. But it seems that things are no longer what they used to be before the First Lady’s visit. This reporter who went round Maitama to have a firsthand feel of the area since prostitutes were sacked and it attendant effect on business spoke to a customer who came to relax. He gave his name as Otobong and according to him, he comes to Maitama to relax his brains mostly in the evening at the close of work. Hear him: “I live in Eket and whenever I come to Uyo, I head straight to this place because I enjoy here and also get to see so many things and people”.

 Mr. Francis who sells roast chicken in Maitama also had this to say: “since the wife of the Governor pursued those prostitutes from Maitama, we no longer sell the way we used to. Though, we open by either 5: pm or 6, customers no longer show up as before”. On the 9:pm closing time set for all to leave the area, he said that the order was obeyed days after the incident, but things have returned to normalcy as one can close when he wishes. “But in spite of staying into the night, customers are nowhere to be seen, we come with our goods and go back with same due to low patronage; even keke riders are nowhere to be seen unlike before as one will have to trek a long distance before seeing one hence, this has also affected business. Some customers are afraid of the policemen because of the unpleasant experience most of them have had in their hands since the prostitutes were sent packing. “On the first day the Governor’s wife came, my goods were destroyed and pushed into the gutters and that’s one of the reasons customers are not coming as before to avoid embarrassment. “Before now, we used to make good sales like upwards of N20, 000 and above especially on Fridays because of clubbers, and on Sundays too.

 “Now, we make as low as N10, 000 per day, and if you stay here (referring to this reporter) till 1: am, you’ll see what I’m telling you”. He concluded.
Princewill, who also sells in Maitama bared his mind this way: “I open for business by 4: pm each day, though sells only intensifies in the night because that’s when most customers usually come. I don’t have a particular time of closing as I only go depending on how business is. Things are beginning to pick up as you can see, and I’m sure that with time, this place will be lively again”. He stated.

Mr. Marshal Udo, who runs a wine shop, spoke extensively with this reporter. “I have been in Maitama for about 7 to 8 months and business from that time was so good, but now, everything is somehow funny. Business was so well that time because there was no problem, that time, people do club, ‘flex’ and do all manner of things but those things have all gone. Since the Governor’s wife sacked the prostitutes and gave them N50,000 each telling them to use some for their transport fare and the remaining one to start something and never to return. 

She also took photograph of them and the following day policemen, the SSS and other security agents besieged the area ostensibly to check if some of the girls are still around. Some of them still hang around because there’s no way you can totally stop them from doing their thing, the ‘ashis’. When the going was good, we used to make great sells like 50 to 45,000 daily but now, if you make 5 to 6,000, it means God has blessed you. Now, I open here in the morning hoping to make sells but all to no avail. Before, I used to open by 4: pm or 5 and make ‘good’ money but now I open from the morning period yet no sells. The police are no longer coming to harass us hence, we stay till 2:am and beyond but customers are shying away to avoid any embarrassment because some customers were also arrested when the situation was hot. 

 

Most of the prostitutes don’t have what to do, as in business that’s why they are doing prostitution. Most of them, having finished their secondary school tried their hands in one venture or the other without anything to show for it. Some of them can be contacted through the aid of those doing business here because some us have their contacts. For now, sales are picking up only on Fridays but the problem is that most customers, after drinking themselves to stupor fight and break bottles especially when rival cult groups encounter themselves”. He stated.
Another customer who was helping himself with a bottle of beer shared his thoughts thus: “I visit here regularly and I don’t see why the governor’s wife reacted in that manner because it’s not the best thing for her to have done. The best thing would have been to issue out notice to people in this area before the action if she feels doing business here is not good enough. She should provide a particular and better place for people here to do their business because most people earn a living from selling here. As you can see, customers’ presence now is not as usual because people are kind of scared due to what happened the other time, and even the shade that aided comfort is no longer here as this place, among other things which served as a relaxation point, but people are cautious and have avoided here to avoid being embarrassed by security agents. Things are no longer moving again. For the prostitutes being sent packing, I have no business with it but my concern is for this place to become as lively as before”.

A roadside trader who craved anonymity said: “I’ve been here since January and things were fine not until the governor’s wife came here. Sales is very poor because the ‘girls’ are no longer here and some people have also avoided here for the sake of being embarrassed. Even travellers used to come here to relax and catch fun because this is the only ‘happening’ place where they can stay till the next day. Those patronising us are only those living in the Estate who come to buy few things. Since the place was stormed, everything has become very slow. I don’t think all the girls were given money because I saw only about 19 or 20 of them that got the cash” she enthused.

Mr. Ibrahim, a suya seller, who used to make up to N20,000 and above but, now struggles to make N10,000 said, “the presence of the girls made sales encouraging because men used to come for them but now they are not here again and it has affected us. “For now, we can only pray so that sells will improve”.

Mr. Benson who sells recharge cards also spoke with this reporter: “I’ve been in Maitama for 2 years and sells have been impressive. What the government has done is good, after all, they decide and the people follow. Those girls constituted a nuisance here and there’s no way government would have closed their eyes to that because it was ugly, moreso, this place being a residential area. Now that the girls are no longer here, there’s a level of morality because they sued to appear nude thereby promoting immorality in a Christian State, it effects is that those who patronise them also buy drinks and other things here but they are no longer coming, it has led to low sales to those selling suya, fish, drinks etc. For me, it has not affected me because everyone buys recharge cards not just the prostitutes. The order to close by 9: pm cannot stand because it’s not a law and did not pass through any legislation. For the ladies; they are part and parcel of the society; it’s difficult to drive them away totally because they will always find a subtle way to survive, they come here daily but are no longer half-clad as before. They dress very well to disguise themselves these days”. He added.

From which ever prism one views the aftermath of the governor’s wife visit to Maitama, one thing is sure: life in Maitama may no longer be the same again. Though, doubts still persist over the fate of the call-girls’ repatriation from the State as some of them are still seen around. One hopes that Maitama which serves more as a relaxation spot will regain it lush and thickness while the ugly activities that portrayed the area in bad light will take a permanent flight so that the peace, revelry and tranquility that pervaded the area can return.
 “Now, we make as low as N10, 000 per day, and if you stay here (referring to this reporter) till 1: am, you’ll see what I’m telling you”. He concluded.
Princewill, who also sells in Maitama bared his mind this way: “I open for business by 4: pm each day, though sells only intensifies in the night because that’s when most customers usually come. I don’t have a particular time of closing as I only go depending on how business is. Things are beginning to pick up as you can see, and I’m sure that with time, this place will be lively again”. He stated.

Mr. Marshal Udo, who runs a wine shop, spoke extensively with this reporter. “I have been in Maitama for about 7 to 8 months and business from that time was so good, but now, everything is somehow funny. Business was so well that time because there was no problem, that time, people do club, ‘flex’ and do all manner of things but those things have all gone. Since the Governor’s wife sacked the prostitutes and gave them N50,000 each telling them to use some for their transport fare and the remaining one to start something and never to return. She also took photograph of them and the following day policemen, the SSS and other security agents besieged the area ostensibly to check if some of the girls are still around. Some of them still hang around because there’s no way you can totally stop them from doing their thing, the ‘ashis’. When the going was good, we used to make great sells like 50 to 45,000 daily but now, if you make 5 to 6,000, it means God has blessed you. Now, I open here in the morning hoping to make sells but all to no avail. Before, I used to open by 4: pm or 5 and make ‘good’ money but now I open from the morning period yet no sells. The police are no longer coming to harass us hence, we stay till 2:am and beyond but customers are shying away to avoid any embarrassment because some customers were also arrested when the situation was hot. Most of the prostitutes don’t have what to do, as in business that’s why they are doing prostitution. Most of them, having finished their secondary school tried their hands in one venture or the other without anything to show for it. Some of them can be contacted through the aid of those doing business here because some us have their contacts. 

For now, sales are picking up only on Fridays but the problem is that most customers, after drinking themselves to stupor fight and break bottles especially when rival cult groups encounter themselves”. He stated.
Another customer who was helping himself with a bottle of beer shared his thoughts thus: “I visit here regularly and I don’t see why the governor’s wife reacted in that manner because it’s not the best thing for her to have done. The best thing would have been to issue out notice to people in this area before the action if she feels doing business here is not good enough. She should provide a particular and better place for people here to do their business because most people earn a living from selling here. As you can see, customers’ presence now is not as usual because people are kind of scared due to what happened the other time, and even the shade that aided comfort is no longer here as this place, among other things which served as a relaxation point, but people are cautious and have avoided here to avoid being embarrassed by security agents. Things are no longer moving again. For the prostitutes being sent packing, I have no business with it but my concern is for this place to become as lively as before”.

A roadside trader who craved anonymity said: “I’ve been here since January and things were fine not until the governor’s wife came here. Sales is very poor because the ‘girls’ are no longer here and some people have also avoided here for the sake of being embarrassed. Even travellers used to come here to relax and catch fun because this is the only ‘happening’ place where they can stay till the next day. Those patronising us are only those living in the Estate who come to buy few things. Since the place was stormed, everything has become very slow. I don’t think all the girls were given money because I saw only about 19 or 20 of them that got the cash” she enthused.

Mr. Ibrahim, a suya seller, who used to make up to N20,000 and above but, now struggles to make N10,000 said, “the presence of the girls made sales encouraging because men used to come for them but now they are not here again and it has affected us. “For now, we can only pray so that sells will improve”.

Mr. Benson who sells recharge cards also spoke with this reporter: “I’ve been in Maitama for 2 years and sells have been impressive. What the government has done is good, after all, they decide and the people follow. Those girls constituted a nuisance here and there’s no way government would have closed their eyes to that because it was ugly, moreso, this place being a residential area. Now that the girls are no longer here, there’s a level of morality because they sued to appear nude thereby promoting immorality in a Christian State, it effects is that those who patronise them also buy drinks and other things here but they are no longer coming, it has led to low sales to those selling suya, fish, drinks etc. For me, it has not affected me because everyone buys recharge cards not just the prostitutes. The order to close by 9: pm cannot stand because it’s not a law and did not pass through any legislation. For the ladies; they are part and parcel of the society; it’s difficult to drive them away totally because they will always find a subtle way to survive, they come here daily but are no longer half-clad as before. They dress very well to disguise themselves these days”. He added.

From which ever prism one views the aftermath of the governor’s wife visit to Maitama, one thing is sure: life in Maitama may no longer be the same again. Though, doubts still persist over the fate of the call-girls’ repatriation from the State as some of them are still seen around. One hopes that Maitama which serves more as a relaxation spot will regain it lush and thickness while the ugly activities that portrayed the area in bad light will take a permanent flight so that the peace, revelry and tranquility that pervaded the area can return.